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WAFS Internet File Service (WIFS)

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WIFS Weather Products

WIFS hosts the following aviation weather products intended for international flight planning and documentation in accordance with ICAO Annex 3, Meteorological Service for International Air Navigation.

WAFS Grids (GRIB2)

Gridded model forecasts in General Regularly-distributed Information in Binary Form Edition 2 (GRIB2) format. Forecasts of the following fields are available every 3 hours from forecast hours 6 through 36 on two grid reoslutions: 1.25x1.25 degree and 0.25x0.25 degree::

  • Wind/Temp 1.25x1.25 degree grids
    • temperature at 17 pressure levels (100 mb, 125 mb, 150 mb, 175 mb, 200 mb, 225 mb, 250 mb, 275 mb, 300 mb, 350 mb, 400 mb, 450 mb, 500 mb, 600 mb, 700 mb, 750 mb, 850 mb)
    • geopotential height at 17 pressure levels (100 mb, 125 mb, 150 mb, 175 mb, 200 mb, 225 mb, 250 mb, 275 mb, 300 mb, 350 mb, 400 mb, 450 mb, 500 mb, 600 mb, 700 mb, 750 mb, 850 mb)
    • U/V wind components at 17 pressure levels (100 mb, 125 mb, 150 mb, 175 mb, 200 mb, 225 mb, 250 mb, 275 mb, 300 mb, 350 mb, 400 mb, 450 mb, 500 mb, 600 mb, 700 mb, 750 mb, 850 mb)
    • relative humidity at 5 pressure levels (500 mb, 600 mb, 700 mb, 750 mb and 850 mb)
    • maximum U/V wind components
    • height of maximum wind
    • height of tropopause
    • temperature at the tropopause
  • Aviation 1.25x1.25 degree grids - blended GFS/UKMET
    • clear air turbulence probability (average and maximum) at 6 pressure levels (150 mb, 200 mb, 250 mb, 300 mb, 350 mb, 400 mb)
    • in-cloud turbulence probability (average and maximum) at 6 pressure levels (300 mb, 400 mb, 500 mb, 600 mb, and 700 mb)
    • icing probability (average and maximum) at 6 reference pressure levels (300 mb, 400 mb, 500 mb, 600 mb, 700 mb, and 800 mb)
    • Horizontal Extent of Cumulonimbus for the entire atmospheric column
    • Height of the Cumulonimbus Base
    • Height of the Cumulonimbus Top
  • Aviation 0.25x0.25 degree grids - blended GFS/UKMET - new in November 2020
    • turbulence (eddiy dissipation rate) values 0 to 1 at 9 pressure levels: 148 mb, 197 mb, 250 mb, 301 mb, 344 mb, 393 mb, 506 mb, 595 mb, 697 mb
    • icing severity values are categories 0 to 4: none, trace, light, moderate, severe; at 6 pressure levels: 301 mb, 393 mb, 506 mb, 595 mb, 697 mb, 812 mb
    • Horizontal Extent of Cumulonimbus for the entire atmospheric column
    • Height of the Cumulonimbus Base
    • Height of the Cumulonimbus Top

The new 0.25x0.25 degree grids are tiled into 8 regions:

  1. Europe - 30-90N, 30W-60E
  2. Africa - 60S-30N, 30W-60E
  3. central Asia - 0-60N, 60E-150W
  4. Australia - 60S-0, 60E-150W
  5. North America - 15-90N, 150W-30W
  6. South America - 60S-15N, 150W-30W
  7. Siberia - 60-90N, 60E-150W
  8. Antarctica - 90-60S, 180W-180E

Significant Weather (SIGWX) BUFR and PNG Charts

Upper-air aviation charts that include jet stream locations, clear air turbulence, thunderstorm, andtropopause height. These are produced by forecasters at WAFC Washington and WAFC London.

SIGWX BUFR WMO Headers

WMO Header Description
JUBE99 EGRR WAFC LONDON CUMULONIMBUS CLOUDS FL250-FL630
JUBE99 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON CUMULONIMBUS CLOUDS FL250-FL630
JUCE00 EGRR WAFC LONDON CLEAR AIR TURBULENCE FL250-FL630
JUCE00 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON CLEAR AIR TURBULENCE FL250-FL630
JUFE00 EGRR WAFC LONDON SURFACE FRONTS
JUFE00 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON SURFACE FRONTS
JUJE00 EGRR WAFC LONDON SURFACE FRONTS..LIMITED AREAS
JUJE00 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON SURFACE FRONTS..LIMITED AREAS
JUME00 EGRR WAFC LONDON CLEAR AIR TURBULENCE FL100-FL450
JUME00 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON CLEAR AIR TURBULENCE FL100-FL450
JUNE00 EGRR WAFC LONDON CLOUD..ICING..TURBULENCE FL100-FL450
JUNE00 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON CLOUD..ICING..TURBULENCE FL100-FL450
JUOE00 EGRR WAFC LONDON TROPOPAUSE HEIGHT FL100-FL450
JUOE00 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON TROPOPAUSE HEIGHT FL100-FL450
JUTE00 EGRR WAFC LONDON JETSTREAM FL100-FL450
JUTE00 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON JETSTREAM FL100-FL450
JUTE97 EGRR WAFC LONDON TROPOPAUSE HEIGHT FL250-FL630
JUTE97 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON TROPOPAUSE HEIGHT FL250-FL630
JUVE00 EGRR WAFC LONDON Volcanoes, Tropical Cyclones, Sandstorms
JUVE00 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON Volcanoes, Tropical Cyclones, Sandstorms
JUWE96 EGRR WAFC LONDON JETSTREAM FL250-FL630
JUWE96 KKCI WAFC WASHINGTON JETSTREAM FL250-FL630

SIGWX PNG WMO Headers

WMO Header Description
PGAE05 KKCI ICAO Area H Significant Weather FL250-FL630
PGBE05 KKCI ICAO Area I Significant Weather FL250-FL630
PGDE29 KKCI ICAO Area M Significant Weather FL250-FL630
PGEE05 KKCI ICAO Area A Significant Weather FL250-FL630
PGGE05 KKCI ICAO Area F Significant Weather FL250-FL630
PGIE05 KKCI ICAO Area B1 Significant Weather FL250-FL630
PGJE05 KKCI ICAO Area J Significant Weather FL250-FL630
PGNE14 KKCI North Atlantic Significant Weather FL100-FL450

Volcanic Ash and Tropical Cyclone Advisories (PNG)

Graphics of volcanic ash produced by the nine Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers across the world. They are transmitted as PNG graphics. The same applies for tropical cyclone advisories even though at this time only advisories from Japan are provided.

Operational Meteorology (OPMET) Messages

  • Traditional Alphanumeric Coding (TAC)

    Alphanumeric messages consisting of routine aviation weather reports (METAR and SPECI), terminal aerodrome forecasts (TAFs), en-route hazardous weather warnings of significant meteorological information (SIGMETs), pilot reports (PIREP), volcanic ash advisory messages (VAA) messages, and tropical cyclone advisory (TCA) messages.

  • International Weather XML Exchange Format (IWXXM)

    Traditional OPMET products including METAR/SPECI, TAF, SIGMET, VAA and TCA are now being encoded in IWXXM format and being made available in a product by product basis and assembled into a compressed Unix tar file. Most products are in the latest available version (3.0). Here is a list of the WMO header prefix used by each product:

WMO Header Description
LA, LP METAR and SPECI
LC, LT TAF short and long range
LS, LV, LY SIGMET general, volcanic ash and tropcial cyclone
LU Volcanic Ash Advisory (VAA)
LK Tropical Cyclone Advisory (TCA)
LW AIRMET

WIFS Directory Structure

Here is a list of the directories under "/wifs/data" and their contents:
  • ADMIN_MSGS

    Administrative messages which announce new products, late products, system issues, etc.

  • BUFR

    BUFR encoded products

    • SIGWX

      SigWx data

      • KWBC

        US generated BUFR data

      • EGRR

        UK generated BUFR data (provided as backup for SADIS users)

  • GRIB2

    GRIB2 encoded gridded data

    • KWBC

      US generated grids

      • *.grib2

        Wind/Temp grids at 1.25 deg.

      • cat, cb, ice

        Blended viation hazard grids for clear air turbulence (CAT), cumulonimbus height and extent, and icing potential. These are legacy 1.25 deg grids.

        • *.grib2

          Hazard grids at 1.25 deg.

      • cb_0.25, ice_0.25, turb_0.25

        Blended viation hazard grids for cumulonimbus height and extent, icing severity, and turbulence severity (EDR). These are new 0.25 deg grids.

        • *.grib2

          Global hazard grids at 0.25 deg.

        • *regX.grib2

          Regional hazard grids at 0.25 deg. See regional tile locations above

    • EGRR

      UK generated grids (provided as backup for SADIS users)

      • *.grib2

        Wind/Temp grids at 1.25 deg.

      • T+06, T+09, T+12,...

        Wind/Temp grids at 1.25 deg broken down by hour (SADIS convention)

      • CAT, CB, ICE

        Blended viation hazard grids for clear air turbulence (CAT), cumulonimbus height and extent, and icing potential. These are legacy 1.25 deg grids.

        • *.grib2

          Hazard grids at 1.25 deg.

        • T+06, T+09, T+12,...

          Hazard grids at 1.25 deg broken down by hour (SADIS convention)

      • CB_0.25, ICE_0.25, TURB_0.25

        Blended viation hazard grids for cumulonimbus height and extent, icing severity, and turbulence severity (EDR). These are new 0.25 deg grids.

        • *.grib2

          Hazard grids at 0.25 deg.

        • T+06, T+09, T+12,...

          Hazard grids at 0.25 deg broken down by hour (SADIS convention)

  • IWXXM

    IWXXM OPMET data, all files gzip compressed

    • 5MINUTE

      IWXXM OPMET data - 5 minute files, tar file of minute files - 36 hours

    • HOURLY

      IWXXM OPMET data - hourly files, tar file of twelve 5 minute files - 36 hours

    • MINUTE

      IWXXM OPMET data - minute files, tar file of IWXXM products - 36 hours

    • *.tgz

      IWXXM OPMET data - rolling files, tar file of minute files (30MIN, 60MIN, LAST HOUR use 5 min files)

  • OPMET-HOURLY

    TAC OPMET data - hourly files - 36 hours

  • OPMET-MINUTE

    TAC OPMET data - minute files - 36 hours

  • OPMET-ROLLING

    TAC OPMET data - rolling files - last minute, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, and last hour

  • PNG

    PNG charts

    • SIGWX

      SigWx charts

      • KWBC

        US generated SigWx charts

      • EGRR

        UK generated SigWx charts (provided as backup for SADIS users)

    • TROP

      Tropical cyclone advisory charts

    • VOLC

      Volcanic ash advisory charts

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